Biz body for tax rebate in all Bihar districts

PATNA: PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), Bihar, president Satyajit Singh, while thanking PM Narendra Modi for giving a huge financial package to Bihar, urged him to notify the 15% tax rebate for new industrial units for all 38 districts of Bihar instead of 21 districts named by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). If Patna (which is among the 21 districts) is a backward district, then all districts ought to be included in the notification, Singh has said.
In a letter addressed to PM Modi on Wednesday, Singh said the ministry of commerce and industry should also conduct a study on industrialization in Bihar.
“We would like to thank you for the visionary approach adopted by your government under your leadership for providing the special package for the infrastructural and socio-economic development of Bihar. You are the first PM after independence who visualized, conceptualized and formulated the developmental strategy to build Bihar to be a part of the India growth story”, Singh has said in the letter.
“In Bihar, we had to start from scratch and first of all decide on an industrial development model based on available resources. It needs to be decided what would be the core model and for that, there is need to take bold and courageous decision with respect to infrastructure (power, road, land, port, airport), finance, skills, entrepreneurship and, above all, the political will to implement the policies,” he said.
Singh said states or countries are poor not because of their geography or culture but the policies adopted by institutions to support development. Citing examples, he said some states ushered in industrialization with bold economic initiatives and policies.
“We are looking forward to your guidance, support and encouragement to make industry in Bihar a part of national & International grid and play an active role in ‘Make in India’ initiative under your visionary leadership,” he said.
Singh told TOI that lack of capital, infrastructure, non-cooperative bureaucracy and financial institutions along with non-prioritization of private sector by government created blockades on the path of industrialization.
“We are a landlocked state and there should be a strategy to develop a state like Bihar with local resources. There should be a road map with infrastructural support and incentives to entrepreneurs,” he said.
Two key factors for the development of industry in Bihar are entrepreneurship and value addition of local resources. A strategy to focus on small and medium enterprises in the first phase, with infusion of capital by a specialized financial institution to promote innovation, will ensure that local entrepreneurs take the lead and become the backbone of industrial development, he said.